Robust direct laser acceleration of electrons with flying-focus laser pulses
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866908619014930432 |
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| author | Meir, Talia Weichman, Kale Arefiev, Alexey Palastro, John P. Pomerantz, Ishay |
| author_facet | Meir, Talia Weichman, Kale Arefiev, Alexey Palastro, John P. Pomerantz, Ishay |
| contents | Direct laser acceleration (DLA) offers a compact source of high-charge, energetic electrons for generating secondary radiation or neutrons. While DLA in high-density plasma optimizes the energy transfer from a laser pulse to electrons, it exacerbates nonlinear propagation effects, such as filamentation, that can disrupt the acceleration process. Here, we show that superluminal flying-focus pulses (FFPs) mitigate nonlinear propagation, thereby enhancing the number of high-energy electrons and resulting x-ray yield. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that, compared to a Gaussian pulse of equal energy (1 J) and intensity (2x10^20 W/cm^2), an FFP produces 80x more electrons above 100 MeV, increases the electron cutoff energy by 20%, triples the high-energy x-ray yield, and improves x-ray collimation. These results illustrate the ability of spatiotemporally structured laser pulses to provide additional control in the highly nonlinear, relativistic regime of laser-plasma interactions. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_25376 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Robust direct laser acceleration of electrons with flying-focus laser pulses Meir, Talia Weichman, Kale Arefiev, Alexey Palastro, John P. Pomerantz, Ishay Plasma Physics Direct laser acceleration (DLA) offers a compact source of high-charge, energetic electrons for generating secondary radiation or neutrons. While DLA in high-density plasma optimizes the energy transfer from a laser pulse to electrons, it exacerbates nonlinear propagation effects, such as filamentation, that can disrupt the acceleration process. Here, we show that superluminal flying-focus pulses (FFPs) mitigate nonlinear propagation, thereby enhancing the number of high-energy electrons and resulting x-ray yield. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that, compared to a Gaussian pulse of equal energy (1 J) and intensity (2x10^20 W/cm^2), an FFP produces 80x more electrons above 100 MeV, increases the electron cutoff energy by 20%, triples the high-energy x-ray yield, and improves x-ray collimation. These results illustrate the ability of spatiotemporally structured laser pulses to provide additional control in the highly nonlinear, relativistic regime of laser-plasma interactions. |
| title | Robust direct laser acceleration of electrons with flying-focus laser pulses |
| topic | Plasma Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.25376 |